12/07/2006 @ 6:00PM

The New Must-Have Billionaire Accessory

Moguls have been funding museums for years, but usually posthumously–Hearst Castle, the Frick Collection, the quirky Barnes Foundation near Philadelphia, the institution in Los Angeles housing J. Paul Getty’s art collection and countless others. Nowadays, donors want the museum doors to open when they are alive, and they have a lot to show off. The bull market of the last quarter-century has financed mounds of artwork. Herewith, a spate of billionaires who have recently opened, or announced plans to open, museums to showcase their own art collections.